Great speaking activity for older students when teaching jobs, or for adult students in Business English classes, or for your one-to-one lessons.
These questions are everything but boring and I can guarantee that they will spark interest in your students.
The questions are real interview questions compiled from different websites.
Enjoy!
I do a lot of speaking activities with my older students. We do a lot of simulations, discussions, role plays, games, etc. and this ESL debate is one of them.
One of the activities I do is an argumentative debate where they can utilize everything they’ve learned, and another great thing about this activity is that it combines writing and speaking. It can also be used as a warm-up for argumentative essay writing.
You can use your own topics according to the vocabulary you’ve been teaching or you can use the topic cards below.
Each pair of students gets the same topic with either Agree or Disagree information. I usually assign the topics randomly. They’ll have a couple of minutes for preparation, I recommend that they write brief notes and if possible, to do some quick online research. Another modification can be that you give them the topics for homework so they can prepare more thoroughly. It depends on the level of the students and the difficulty of the topics.
When they are ready, let them talk in pairs, circle and monitor. When they finish, have a short feedback discussion with them:
Were they able to persuade their opponent?
What arguments did they use?
This ESL simulation activity is for a group of four students, B1-B2 level, 15+ age.
I find it’s best to use this activity after teaching crime vocabulary, and after teaching some basic concepts of peer pressure, argumentation, and manipulation. What I like about this activity is that the character cards don’t tell the students what decisions they should make, it’s purely their choice.
I got the idea for this ESL picture speaking activity after we came across a well-known photograph in our textbook, and I was surprised how many students didn’t know it. Sure, young people are overwhelmed with photos all day long. Take Instagram for example, but it is usually photos of celebrities, fashion, food, Starbuck cups, you get the idea.
Another thing is that they often have no clue about history although they have to study it at school. What they are more interested in is the future; final tests, university, jobs, family.
I wanted to teach them something about the past, show them real, raw photos that deal with many issues that still resonate today. I chose 10 iconic photos, but you can add more that are more local or more significant for your country. This activity is a great starter for discussion about human rights, democracy, and equality, which are things that our modern society still struggles with.
I recommend you use this activity with students 16+ as the photos may be disturbing for younger students.
Instructions
1. Use this material after a lesson on photography, global issues,
human rights, etc.
2. Hand out the Student’s Sheets and explain the Ss that they will see 10
iconic photographs. They will finds vocabulary in the handout that can be
associated with the pictures. This serves as a warm up, and help in case they
don’t know anything about the pictures. Pull up the pictures on the
interactive whiteboard, or any equipment that you use. Show them each
picture for approx. 30 seconds. In this phase do not let the Ss to talk or share
any knowledge they might have.
3. After they finish, show them the pictures again, this time a bit longer. Tell
them to write anything they know, or can guess about the pictures.
4. Discuss.
You will see 10 pictures. Write number of the picture next to the word which you associate with the picture.
Dictator
Actor
Poverty
Survivor
Famine
Democracy
Protest
Independence
Pulitzer Prize
Dictatorship
War
Human rights
Sacrifice
New York
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Download the photos in PDF format>>>>>>Iconic Pictures
Teacher’s Sheet>>>>> Iconic Pictures Teacher’s Sheet
Student’s Sheet>>>>> Iconic Pictures Student’s Sheet
Other speaking activities you might want to try:
Speaking Resource for ESL/EFL Teachers: Creative Storytelling
Speaking Resources for ESL/EFL Teachers: Picture Prompts
28 ESL/EFL Conversation Starters to Spark Conversation
Group Activity For ESL/EFL Classes: Famous Stories With A Twist!
My students love creative activities, especially the younger kids and teenagers are always thrilled when we play a game or do some acting. I did this activity with students from 14 to 19 years. It was always a success. The best thing is, there is almost no prep and you can do it the whole lesson, or shorter versions as a warm-up.
This activity is a cross of telling a story, inventing your own and acting. I use famous stories with three or more characters so the kids can work in small groups. Then I assign the story and let them draw a card with a specific genre.
So, for example, we can have the story of Shrek and the genre is a documentary. We have three main characters: Shrek, Fiona, Donkey. If needed we could add one extra character: Gingerbread Man, or Puss in Boots. Then I give the students some time to prepare, usually 10 minutes. After that, they take turns in acting their stories, as a theatre troupe :).
You can download the activity with my stories here or prepare your own, using stories well known in your culture.
Extra activity: if your students don’t know the stories or the characters in the stories, don’t tell them. Let them use their phones or school computers to do their own research.
I love movies and TV shows and I always recommend my students to watch as much in the original language they can, to use English subtitles, to watch YouTube videos, TED talks, to immerse themselves in the language as much as they can.
Nowadays, hundreds of movies and TV shows are available online and there isn’t an easier way to broaden vocabulary, improve listening skills and pick up some grammar without actually learning it.
1. The Crown: I love the Queen’s accent, the costumes and I love Churchill. Season 1 is available for binge-watching and the good news is that Season 2 will be available sooon, on 8th of December! Yay! Now I can’t decide if I want to watch it right away or save it for Christmas, so I could savor it properly.
2. House of Cards: All 5 Seasons are available so that’s a lot of episodes. And a lot of fun. We may have lost Kevin Spacey but Frank Underwood will stay with us forever. If he doesn’t destroy us first of course. He and his beautiful wife will suck you into the world of politics and intrigues. Great for vocabulary.
3. Chef’s Table: Don’t watch this hungry. Actually, it doesn’t matter. Every time I watched this I ended up raiding the fridge. It is a 3 Season documentary focusing on renowned chefs around the world. The colours are unbelievable and I love the music as well. It is great when learning food-related vocabulary.
4. IT Crowd: The British original, not the American spin-off. It’s a bit older, but all 5 Seasons are available for your viewing pleasure. This show is pure gold. The episodes are short, around 20 minutes and hilarious. You will pee yourself. And learn some English on the go.
5.Dexter: This TV show ended in 2013, it has 8 Seasons, each with 12 episodes so you will have some serious watching to do. The main hero is a forensic specialist working for Miami Police and oh wait, he is a serial killer as well. It is sarcastic, messy, violent and very entertaining. Good for crime vocabulary.
Picture description activities can be rather boring after some time and it occurred to me that usually, the pictures are not very creative. I came up with an idea of how to spice it up a bit. The picture prompts for speaking and writing in this activity are unusual, imaginative and I hope they will spark some entertaining stories.
I recommend to use it with students 16+, it best works with young adults. It could be used with stronger Intermediate students, Upper Intermediate and Advanced.
As a variation, you can use it as writing prompts.
I put together picture prompts on different topics that can be used when practicing general speaking with your students or preparing them for various certificates and exams. I will later add more resources on different topics.
ESL Picture Storytelling Activity
Picture Based Speaking Activity For ESL/EFL Classes
Picture Prompts for Speaking and Writing: An ESL Activity
Are you tired of marking vocabulary and grammar tests?
Do you want to revise vocabulary and chunks of grammar quickly?
Do you want to engage your students?
Do you want to have data about your student’s performance in neat Excel sheets readily available for you?
Do you want to play a game as a warm-up or filler, no prep whatsoever?
Do you want to have access to countless learning games?
Are you creative?
Do you enjoy creating your own games and quizzes?
If you answered YES to at least one question, you will love Kahoot. Continue reading Play and Learn! Kahoot: A Free Learning Platform.
Work-life balance has been a buzzword for quite some time now, and I can’t stress enough how important in the teaching profession it is not to work.
If you want to be healthy, efficient, good at your job and happy at the same time, you have to learn to let go. To stop and take a breath.
It is essential for your personal and professional life that you find joy in the work you do. And you can’t enjoy our job if you are permanently stressed and overworked. Your personal life will suffer and afterward, it’s a downward spiral.
How to find the time? Here’s a short list of tips.
1] Prioritise. You can never do all the tasks in one afternoon or evening, you’d be overwhelmed. Chose the most important ones, plan your work, and after you’ve finished them, don’t work.
2] Plan and prepare. Whatever it is, a lesson, a game, your lunch, paperwork, be ready. Prepare before so that you can finish your task effectively. Otherwise, you will improvise too much, panic and lose precious time.
3] Share. If you share your lesson plans and activities with colleagues it is likely they will also share their resources with you. You don’t have to do everything alone.
4] Don’t try to invent the wheel. There are tons of textbooks, grammar books, resource packs, pdfs, lesson plans, videos, apps, podcasts. You don’t have to prepare all your materials from scratch.
5] Delegate. I know many female teachers with families who after they come home from work: cook, clean the house, do the laundry, do the dishes, walk the dog, do the shopping, do homework with their children, etc. I’m sure those of you with older kids could delegate some of these responsibilities to them and be strict about it. Also, I’ve noticed how teachers are considered to have more free time and they are often expected by their partners to do all the housework. Talk to your partner about their expectations and try to find a mutually satisfying solution.
6] Don’t waste your time. Learn to say no and don’t spend time with people who you don’t like. Don’t do things that aren’t important or necessary and which don’t make you feel happy.
Let me know in the comments if you have any other tips how to effectively manage your time.
Photo by Joe Pizzio on Unsplash
